Country: Uganda

Governing Body: Uganda Athletic Federation

National Team: N/A

Player Scope: Ladies & Gentlemen

First played: 1956

Registered Racers: Appx Over 500

Teams: N/A

Peak Season: All year round

National Competitions:

               Track & Field Competitions / Championships.

               Relays Championships

               Cross Country Championships.

               Marathons

               Road Races.

               Mountain Running Championships.

International Competitions:

               East Africa Athletics Championships

               All Africa Games

               World Championships

               Olympic Games

               So many others 

Visit Uganda for a truly testing athletics experience

Country: Uganda

Governing Bodies: Uganda Athletic Federation

National Team: The best lady and gentleman athlete in the nationals represents the country

Training Tracks:  Makerere University Tracks, MUBS Grounds & Namboole Stadium. Athletes also train in the mountains and hills in various parts of Uganda but especially in the North Eastern mountains of Uganda.

Peak Season:  All year round

National Competitions:

               Track & Field Competitions / Championships.

               Relays Championships

               Cross Country Championships.

               Marathons

               Road Races.

               Mountain Running Championships.

International Competitions:

               East Africa Athletics Championships

               All Africa Games

               World Championships

               Olympic Games

               So many others

World Ranking: 83^rd

Famous Runners from Uganda:

1.       John Akii-Bua (1949 – 1997) is the most famous Ugandan Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages on wikipedia. John Akii-Bua was a Ugandan hurdler and the first Olympic champion from Uganda.

2.      Stephen Kiprotich is the 2nd most famous Ugandan Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages. Stephen Kiprotich is a Ugandan long-distance runner, born in Kapchorwa District. He is an Olympic marathon champion, having won gold at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. He also won gold at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics. He is the second person, after Gezahegne Abera, to follow an Olympic marathon gold medal with a world championship gold medal for the same event. He clinched the Olympic gold 2012 Olympic champion with a winning time of 2:08:01 in hot, sunny, and humid conditions. This was the first Olympic medal for Uganda since 1996, the first Olympic gold medal for the country since 1972, and the country’s first ever in the marathon. He won the Moscow IAAF championship marathon on 17 August 2013.

3.      Joshua Cheptegei is the 3rd most famous Ugandan Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages. Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei (born 12 September 1996) is a Ugandan long-distance runner and 2019 world champion in the 10,000 m. He is the tenth man in history to hold the 5,000 m and 10,000 m world records concurrently, both set in 2020. In 2017, he became the silver medalist in the 10,000 metres event at the World Championship in London. In 2018, he set a world record for the 15 km road race and became the cross country world champion in 2019. In 2020, at a road race in Monaco, he set a new world road 5 km record of 12:51, breaking through the event’s 13-minute barrier, taking 9 seconds from the previous best time of 13:00, set by Kenya’s Sammy Kipketer in 2000. In August 2020, at the Monaco Diamond League meet, he set a new 5000 metres world record of 12:35.36, breaking Kenenisa Bekele’s 16-year-old world record of 12:37.35 set in Hengelo. On 7 October 2020, in Valencia, he set a world record time of 26:11.00 in the 10000 meters, which again improved on Kenenisa Bekele’s 15-year-old record by more than 6 seconds.

4.      Davis Kamoga  is the 4th most famous Ugandan Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages. Davis Kamoga is a Ugandan athlete competing in 400 m. He won the bronze medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1997 he won the first Ugandan medal at the World Championships, a silver medal in the 1997 World Championships in Athens in a personal best time of 44.37 seconds. This is the national record, and ranks him fourth in Africa, behind Innocent Egbunike, Samson Kitur and Charles Gitonga.

5.      Halimah Nakaayi is the 5th most famous Ugandan Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages. Halimah Nakaayi is a Ugandan middle-distance runner. She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, in the women’s 800 metres. She was the flag bearer for Uganda in the closing ceremony. Her biggest success is a gold medal in the 800m at the 2019 World Athletics Championships.

6.      Dorcus Inzikuru is the 6th most famous Ugandan Athlete. Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages. Dorcus Inzikuru is a Ugandan track and field athlete, competing in the steeplechase. She won the inaugural world title in women’s 3000 m steeplechase, as well as the first Commonwealth title in the event. Her coach is Renato Canova.

7.      Solomon Mutai  is the 7th most famous Ugandan Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages. Munyo Solomon Mutai is a Ugandan long-distance runner. He started his career over shorter distances and at the 2009 Ugandan Championships he placed ninth over 1500 metres and fourth in the 3000 metres steeplechase. At the age of 18 years he was runner-up at the national 5000 metres, second to Moses Kipsiro. His half marathon debut came in Kampala and he was runner-up behind his compatriot Nathan Ayeko with a time of 1:01:26 hours. He set two personal bests at the 2013 Ugandan Championships, running 13:33.80 minutes for the 5000 m and 28:44.81 minutes for the 10,000 metres, having placed fourth at both distances. He made his debut in road events at the end of the year and was in the top ten at the B O Classic and Corrida de Houilles 10K runs. He also won the half marathon section of the Nairobi Marathon that year. He made his international debut for Uganda at the 2014 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and helped Uganda to fifth in the team race by finishing 26th overall. He was then selected to run the marathon at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where he finished fourth. He won a silver medal at the marathon event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Visit The Athletics Fraternity of Uganda:  Visit our star athletes, watch them train and interact with them. You can also visit their training circuits to have an authentic athletics experience of your own.